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November 26, 2004 		The Last Yankee
By Arthur Miller

Directed by Michael Colucci

At The Actor’s Workshop Theatre
1044 W. Bryn Mawr
Chicago, IL

Call 773-728-7529, tickets $15

Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM
Sundays at 3 PM with a 7 PM show on
Sunday December 5 & 12. 2004

Running time is 70 minutes with no Intermission

Through December 12, 2004
My first trip to the Actor’s Workshop Theatre was a pleasant one. The intimate storefront theatre is immaculately clean with comfortable seating for 48---and the show was quite professional. This Equity Company is featuring Arthur Miller plays this season and his The Last Yankee was a surprise treat. Once I realized that Roslyn Alexander, one of Chicago’s golden divas, was in the show, I knew it would be worthy. It sure was.

Miller’s 1993 short one act, The Last Yankee, is a heartwarming drama dealing with both long-term relationships and the complication of mental illness. Miller deals with the subtle challenges that couples face when the ugly fact of depression frustrates their lives. We meet Leroy Hamilton (Jim Farruggio), a struggling carpenter and descendant of Alexander Hamilton whose middle-aged wife, Patricia (Jan Ellen Graves) is on her third stay in the state mental hospital. John Frick (Sam Perry) is a wealthy senior whose wife, Karen (Roslyn Alexander) has only been in the mental hospital for a week.

The two men exchange stories as both try to discover the causes of depressions but their wives are total opposites so no common causes become apparent. Miller weaves the waiting room scene economically so that we know enough about each husband to care what happens. Sam Perry, as the older self-made man, delivered a subdued yet effective bewildered husband.

Next we meet the two wives who have become friends while in the state hospital. Jan Ellen Graves landed Patricia’s apprehension and her denial toward her illness marvelously. Her attempts to convince herself (and later Leroy) that she was ‘fine’ was nicely played. Her interaction with the older lady, Karen, in a stirring and sad portrayal by Roslyn Alexander, gave the play teeth. Graves and Alexander played off one another effectively. Alexander had the forgetful, confused and insecure demeanor of a mentally ill senior. She simply can’t make any decisions. When she strives to please her husband by doing her tap dance in her top hat and tails, she unabashedly stops the show. Alexander is at the top of her craft as she tugs at your heart with her performance.

Miller deftly deals with the troubles couples have with long-term relationship in their marriage especially when depression complicates their lives. Leroy and Patricia come to an uneasy understanding that what they have is all they may get and that life happens one day at a time and that’s fine. John can’t come to grips with his delusional Karen as he retreats into work and she to her tap dance Fred Astaire-fantasy. Miller once again offers a realistic look at personal weakness in the human condition.

The Last Yankee is a swift, polished, well-acted 70 minute glimpse into the dilemma of how to deal with mental illness. Roslyn Alexander’s performance is a treasure to cherish.

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3rdcoastlogo
 LIVE EVENT REVIEW:
ARTHUR MILLER’S
THE LAST YANKEE
AT
THE ACTOR’S WORKSHOP THEATRE
by
Bryan A. Bushemi
Arthur Miller’s The Last Yankee is a small play. Time-wise, that is. Clocking in at just over an hour, as staged by the Actors Workshop Theatre, located at 1044 West Bryn Mawr Avenue. It’s fitting, because the Actor’s Workshop Theatre is a small theatre. But as the old adage says, good things come in small packages. In this case, founder and director Michael Colucci’s production of this Miller gem is like that little, velvet box holding a sparkling Tiffany diamond.

The Last Yankee opens in the waiting room of a state mental institution, where the wives of Leroy Hamilton (a carpenter and descendent of U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton) and John Frick (a prickly, conservative, successful businessman) are “recovering” from psychological problems brought on by the pressures of their respective marriages. Later, after Hamilton and Frick engage in a typically “Millerian” interplay involving success, class, ambition, and the genesis of the problems faced by their wives and themselves, the play moves on to Patricia Hamilton and Karen Frick, both at cruxes in how their relationship with their husbands literally hinges on the “success” of their treatment. Out of the stultifying grip of her medication for the first time in 15 years, Patricia rises from the funk that has crippled her marriage to the still-devoted Leroy, while the obviously over-medicated Karen seems to spiral ever downward into confusion. This culminates variously in a renewal of affection for the Hamiltons and a precipitous sundering of connections for the Fricks, when Karen’s hat-and-tails tap-dance fantasy (to her husband’s grudgingly sung “Swanee River”) proves to be too much for her husband to deal with, and he leaves, deflating any remaining hope within her.

The Actors Workshop Theatre’s intimate, 40-seat house is the perfect venue for this Miller mini-treasure. All the space is well utilized, inviting, and no seat in the house has a bad view of the stage. As always, this AWT performance is very polished and economical, yet vibrant in its production and direction. The actors deliver their dialog with conviction and believability that belies the small, independent nature of the venue. As always, Director Michael Colucci’s familiarity with the AWT’s space allows him to maximize the audience’s enjoyment in yet another sparkling offering.

As Leroy Hamilton, actor Jim Farruggio delivers a solid performance, his practical, accepting demeanor under-laid by conflicting weariness and tension at the uncertainty of just what the results will be from his wife’s latest trip to the sanitarium to “solve” their mutual problems. He’s the picture of the faithful, titular “Last Yankee.” Jan Ellen Graves, AWT’s resident lead actress, seamlessly inhabits the character of Patricia, conveying a bottled-up energy in the process of just being released and is thus unsure of what to do with it or if the burgeoning hopefulness she feels will last. Her presence and style of delivery is so natural that there is absolutely no sense of her merely reciting memorized lines.

Sam Perry does a delightfully crusty, irascible turn as John Frick. He wonderfully conveys a man confounded at his wife’s depression, mired in his own conservativeness, ignorant of how his own confrontational prejudices and views seem to affect others. Perry’s embodiment of the blustery and self-important Frick butting against things that just don’t behave as he would like them to is a treat to watch.

And what can be said about the delightful Roslyn Alexander to truly capture what a joy it is to see her perform in yet another in the long line of Chicago productions she’s graced? Pitch-perfect with her confusion and portrayal of the fading and addled Karen Frick, the remarkable physical and facial aspects of her performance are only a small part of her mastery the acting craft. She becomes the character completely and the highlight of this fine play in this excellent venue is her hat-tights-tails-and-cane tap performance. This alone makes AWT’s version of The Last Yankee worth every penny of the $15 admission to see.

I can’t recommend any Actors Workshop Theatre production highly enough. I’ve never seen a bad play at this venue and, like their current offering, you’re sure to get more than your money’s worth any time you take in one of their performances. If you enjoy Arthur Miller, wonderful acting, and some well-spent time in an invitingly comfortable little theatre, see The Last Yankee at AWT. You’ll thank me for the recommendation.

The Actors Workshop Theatre’s production of Arthur Miller’s The Last Yankee opened on November 14 and runs through December 12, with shows Thursday-Saturday, at 8 PM, and performances at 3 PM on Sundays. There was no showing on Thursday, November 25 (Thanksgiving Day), but additional shows on Sundays December 5 and 12 are offered at 7 PM. Tickets are $15 and seating is limited, so make your reservations as soon as possible.

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THE ACTORS WORKSHOP THEATRE CELEBRATES ARTHUR MILLER
by Ruth Smerling
Theatreworld Internet Magazine
http://members.aol.com/mouseuk/stage/usa.htm


Edgewater is becoming the place for theatre. Just a block from City Lit, a few doors down on Bryn Mawr, across the street from Francesca’s bistro is THE ACTORS WORKSHOP, a Ma and Pa shop run by Chicago-trained actor Michael Colucci and his lovely and gracious wife, Jan Ellen Graves. Though they’ve finally roosted in the Historic Edgewater district, the Actors Workshop, initially Scala/Colucci Productions, has been an itinerant company since 1994. In the cozy space on Bryn Mawr the 2004-2005 season showcases the works of the unparalleled American playwright Arthur Miller with the current show, the Equity production of THE LAST YANKEE running through December 12.

Colucci describes THE LAST YANKEE as "Miller’s unflinching, yet compassionate ode to the relentless challenges of a long-term relationship." THE LAST YANKEE stars Jim Farruggio and Jan Ellen Graves as a middle aged couple in trouble. They meet the Fricks (Sam Perry, Roslyn Alexander) in a State mental hospital and try to come to terms with the hand life has dealt them. The scintillating Roslyn Alexander steals the show in a musical number in top hat and tails in Colucci calls "Arthur Miller meets A Chorus Line."

Following THE LAST YANKEE the Miller season continues with THE AMERICAN CLOCK, January 9-February 6, THE RIDE DOWN MT. MORGAN, February 27-March 27 and finally ALL MY SONS April 27-May 15.

 THE ACTORS WORKSHOP is located at 1044 W. Bryn Mawr. For reservations phone 773-728-7529 (PLAY) and visit on the web at www.actorsworkshop.org.

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